


Tick tock, and all too soon, You and I must Die.

by BrightTerror



Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [17]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Autistic Spencer Reid, Emily is so great, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hallucinations, Happy Ending, Hurt Spencer Reid, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Protective Emily Prentiss, Rossi is an iconic Pasta Dad, Rossi is basically Reid's father figure, Sensory Deprivation, We love her, Whump, references to Hankel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27178802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrightTerror/pseuds/BrightTerror
Summary: Whumptober day 24 YOU’RE NOT MAKING ANY SENSE (Sensory Deprivation)Reid is stuck in an anechoic chamber, (A room designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves) his day is going from bad to worse and he can only hope his team finds him in time before it's too late.
Relationships: Emily Prentiss & Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid & David Rossi, Spencer Reid & The BAU Team
Series: BrightTerror's 2020 Whumptober [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948378
Comments: 13
Kudos: 241
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Tick tock, and all too soon, You and I must Die.

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read, sorry for any typos or mistakes.  
> Slight spoilers for s2ep15 "Revelations", s5ep9 "100" and s6ep18 "Lauren"

Before Spencer fully woke up, he knew something was _wrong._ Everything felt awry and without even a full minute of consciousness he could already tell something was awfully wrong with _him_.

The first thing he noticed was the floor, it was filled with some sort of big spikes, but they weren’t the sharp spikes to stab someone, more like decoration but not entirely. There were a lot and in between there were some metal slabs where he was currently laying on. The walls were covered from the same material and it appeared the entire room had the odd spikes all around it. 

He noticed this a few seconds after he woke up. He hadn’t been awake for a full minute before he became aware of his body, _literally._ His ears were ringing constantly. He could _hear_ his breath, hear the blood flowing through his veins and when he tried to move, he could hear the discomforting sound of his joints as they clashed against each other in order to work. He was experiencing one of the worst sensory feelings he has ever experienced in his life. He blinked and he could hear his eyes shut close and open again. 

It didn’t take him long to figure out where he was: an anechoic chamber. He had read about them and he knew they had something to do with their case... maybe? He couldn’t concentrate enough to remember what he had been doing before he got there. 

He couldn’t take the displeasure of hearing his breathing as if someone was heavy breathing right on his ear. It felt wrong and all he wanted to do was stop it. But he couldn’t. He decided to stop breathing as much as he could, keep his breaths far and in between, but that didn’t do any good. The moment he consciously stopped breathing in and out he became eerily aware of his heartbeat. 

This wasn’t a feeling like when you run too much or get an anxiety attack that makes you _feel_ your heartbeat. This made him actually _hear_ it. As if someone was recording his heartbeat sound and blaring it through the most powerful speaker right in his ear. 

He tried to remember all the facts he could about where he was stuck in. Facts calmed him down. Facts had sense when nothing else did, and right now everything was incorrect. 

He began listing them on his mind. 

_Fact number one: anechoic chambers have negative decibels of sound, so obviously below what humans can hear._

_Fact number two: if any noise is made inside of this room, it essentially instantly dissipates._

_Fact number three: Everywhere in the world, no matter where, there’s always an echo, whether or not you're aware of it._

_Fact number four: inside an anechoic chamber, there are absolutely zero echoes. Follow up fact: this is something humans have never experienced before, so it can mess with their heads._

_Fact number five. This room is only used to test sounds that come out of products, and humans haven't even been in it for any extended amount of time._

He had to get out of there. If he recalled correctly the most someone has been in one of these chambers was 45 minutes and it drove them insane. Their brains couldn’t process the lack of sound, so their senses were messed up. 

Time was ticking. He had to get out of there before the 45-minute mark or he didn’t have any evidence of what would happen to him next. He didn’t like the unknown when he was trapped inside it. 

He tried to remember all the facts he needed to know about the anechoic chamber he was in. He thought he remembered all of the necessary points. 

Unfortunately for him he forgot the last important fact. 

_Fact number six:_ short-term sensory deprivation can induce temporary psychotic episodes and hallucinations… 

He doesn’t know how long he has been in there. It could have been hours, but it could also be merely seconds. He wasn’t thinking straight, his brain wasn’t working well with the lack of functioning senses he wasn’t receiving. 

It wasn't a lack of sound exactly, but at the same time, it was. It was like he could hear all the things he wasn’t supposed to and everything that was supposed to make sound was dead quiet. 

He began to move, gritting his teeth to combat the ache and displeasure he felt in his whole body as he heard his joints move and blood flow. He had to power through it. He _needed_ to make it. He didn’t have another choice but to. 

There was a door across the room. He doubted it was going to be open, but he had to try. Walking towards the door he felt wrong, his footsteps made no sound at all, there were no echoes. He tried to pry the knob open but as expected it was locked. He banged on the door to try and get someone’s attention, but it was pointless. No one would hear him. He couldn’t even hear himself. 

The banging on the door made his hands and forearms bruise yet he kept trying. It was odd, banging on the door but not hearing the usual clang and rattle sounds that came along with it. It was wrong. Physics wasn't supposed to be like that, sound was supposed to be heard. 

He loved physics and mathematics because they had formulas and equations and wouldn’t change. They were facts and constants. Something he could count on. _Sound, according to physics, was a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid._ He reminded himself to calm down. It didn’t work. Because right now physics wasn’t working, the sound waves didn’t travel through the solid walls he was currently stuck in. 

Time was ticking away and each second, he was closer to an impending mental breakdown. Or maybe a breakdown from reality. He didn’t know. But it was unnerving. 

He sat down in a corner by the metal slabs and hugged his knees, rocking back and forth to calm himself. His auditory senses were ultimately fucked but he could still control his other senses. 

He focused on his kinesthesis, his sense of position and body movement. Maybe if he kept his mind off the sounds, he could survive longer…. He hated the sound of his breathing. It was _too_ much. 

He rocked some more and tried—and failed— to ignore the unsettling echo-free room. He began tapping his fingers to his knee but stopped, he couldn’t even hear the sound it made correctly. Why was everything so far from the nice, normal functioning way? He hated it there. 

He needed to get out of there. He could feel his mind fragmenting little by little. Now he could not recall any facts he knew because he lost his train of consciousness every few seconds.

_In human physiology and psychology, sound is the…... reception of…. what… there’s too much noise but there isn’t… shut up, focus… in human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their… the ringing is too much… concentrate, Spencer, you're better than this. You have to… In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain._

Reid let out a relieved sigh that had no sound. He managed to remember the entire fact, after a few tries but he did it. It calmed him down. He had to remember it, so he didn’t lose it. 

_In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain._

_In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain._

He repeated it, mentally, over and over again. Reminding him that the agonising ringing in his ears was just his brain’s perception of the lack of brain waves it wasn’t receiving. There wasn’t any actual ringing, it was just his brain giving a fake sound to compensate. 

Feeling extremely dizzy, he hid his head between his knees and chest and pressed his hands to his temples trying to calm himself and lessen his dizziness. It didn’t work. 

He wondered if his team was looking for him. He vaguely remembered he was on a case and they had been working on it for a few days. He was supposed to go somewhere with Emily, he thinks so at least, but he isn’t so sure. Last thing he remembered was going to check if a room was clear, everything was a blur after it. 

If he had been with Emily then he could be saved, his team knew he was missing… but he doubted he would get them out in time. Time was ticking away, as if the seconds drifted away from the clock and never returned.

They were getting desperate inside, feeling more detached from reality the more time it passed. Him and Gideon had to find a way out, before they went insane and tried to kill each other or something. 

He wasn’t too preoccupied of that yet, Gideon still seemed sane enough and was giving him a very comforting hug. 

Wait. 

_What?_

Gideon?

Gideon was not supposed to be there. He was gone. He had abandoned him years ago. Left without saying goodbye and only left a note. So why was he looking at someone who looked like his ex-mentor sitting next to him? 

No. 

No. 

This was wrong. 

Gideon wasn’t there. There was no one there. He was all alone in the chamber and had been since the start. He remembered now. He jumped away from Not Gideon and almost hit himself with the spikes in the wall. 

He tugged his hair and shut his eyes. There was no one there. His heart hammered through his body and it was too loud, he needed to concentrate. 

He opened his eyes and Gideon was gone. He sighed and shook his head. He was trembling head to toe. He didn’t realise it. 

_I’m losing it. This is it. I’m becoming my mother… if I ever get out of here at least I’ll spend more time with her since we both will be at the same hospital… I wonder if the team will visit me._

That’s when he began hearing the voices. He recognised all of them, all the people he couldn’t save. Two of them stood out the most: Tobias and Dowd. 

“You're a sinner. That’s why you will die here! You killed me; you couldn’t save me because you wanted me to rot in hell. Raphael should have ended you!”

“No, no I’m sorry.” Reid pleaded. “I wanted to save you, Tobias. I really did.” he shook his head. 

“You killed me with no hesitation. People say you’re a blinker, but you didn’t even think twice about taking a life. Have you no remorse? And how pathetic that a twig like you ended me…” Dowd’s voice said. 

“I had to save Hotch.” Reid tried to argue, and he furrowed his brows, scared. 

“Hotch?” A new voice said. He knew that voice… Haley. “He kicked you and mocked you, yet you still protect him? You couldn’t protect me. If you had used your genius brain of yours better and connected the dots faster, I would still be alive.” Haley’s voice hissed. 

_No, no, no, no. This wasn’t real. They’re dead. They’re not here._ He shut his eyes forcefully and scratched his head obsessively. 

“Reid, you alright?” Morgan tapped his shoulder. 

Reid opened his eyes. Morgan was standing next to him. “Morgan?” He sighed relieved. “Get me out of here please.”

Morgan smiled and the smile was wrong, it was evil. Reid let out a sob. “You're not real.” He whispered. 

Morgan shifted into JJ and she had the most _mean girl_ expression he had ever seen. “I wish I could take it back... you don’t deserve to be Henry's godfather. Look at you.” She eyes him up and down judgingly. “Nothing but a freak addicted to Dilaudid.”

Reid shut his eyes and forcefully covered his ears with his hands, but it was no use, he could still hear the blood flowing through his veins, his joints cracking and a plethora of voices and whispers mixing together. 

He just wanted it to be over. Please let it be over soon. He just wanted it to stop. Wanted peace. 

_____

Emily woke up and winced at the ache in her head. She and Reid had been together checking a warehouse for their case. They separated to clear the place faster and next thing she knew she was thwacked on the back of her head. She called out for Reid and when there was no answer, only eerie silence, she gripped her gun and searched for him. She grabbed her phone and called for backup; this was an all hands-on-deck situation. 

Once the rest of the team knew Reid was taken, they all did their best to pinpoint where the unsub might have taken him. It was difficult because all the victims so far didn’t have any useful evidence to catch the man or find him. All of them had died by head trauma: a single blow to the head with a blunt object. Yet others had injuries on their hands and arms that appeared to be self-inflicted. 

With the help of the iconic and only, Penelope Garcia, they managed to have a clue to where their youngest agent was. Apparently, their unsub had been shoving his victims in anechoic chambers so they would go insane from the amount of sensory distortion and deprivation. The unsub was a mercy killer whom he would kill his victims to end their misery. Only took about an hour to find the information and the place where Reid might be. Without missing any more time, everyone geared up and went to save their resident genius. 

They got to the building and headed towards the anechoic chamber. They were guided by Penelope who was still on call with them. When they got to the room where said chamber was, they saw it was not making direct contact with the building around it and the walls were made of some sort of medal about 12 inches thick, which was basically wedged insulation.

Next to the anechoic chamber, was the unsub with his headphones on, watching a laptop. Morgan apprehended him while JJ checked the screen. The unsub had been watching a live recording of inside the chamber so he could see how his victims slowly lost it and he would eventually end their suffering. He had a hell of a hero complex. 

Hotch took the unsub away while the rest of the team focused on getting Reid out of there. According to the live stream they were watching, Reid was still alive but in a great amount of distress. Without another second to waste, Morgan found a hammer nearby to break the lock of the door and after a few hits it swung open. 

They immediately saw Reid was hunched over in a corner with his hands gripping his hair and his head hidden between his knees. He seemed to be crying and muttering stuff to himself. 

To not crowd him, only Morgan and JJ entered. As soon as they did, they could feel the change in atmosphere and even with the door open the lack of sound was disturbing. The sound wasn't completely gone but it was definitely distorted. They had only been there a few seconds; they didn’t even want to think about how it would be like being trapped in there. They shuddered at the thought of Reid stuck in there for over an hour, at least. 

Once they were close enough to Reid, they could hear him muttering. He was slowly rocking back and forth. “Go away, go away, go away.” He cried and repeated and recited it as a mantra. “Go away, go away.” They could see his hands and arms had bruises. 

Morgan frowned and used the gentlest voice he could muster. “Reid? Can you hear us?”

“Go away. Go away. Go away.” Reid became even more distraught. 

JJ was wide eyed, and her brows were creased. “Spence? It’s okay. It's us, JJ and Morgan. We’re going to get you out of here.” She wanted to touch him to let him know it was alright, but she knew better. 

“No. Just go away. You’re not real. Go away.” Reid pleaded, heartbroken. 

“Reid, kid, it's us, you’re okay. We have to get you out of here. Emily and Rossi are waiting right outside.” Morgan tried again and gently touched his arm. “We’re real. You can feel the touch, right? We are real. And we are going to get you out of here.”

Reid all but jumped and flinched the moment Morgan touched his arm. “No, you’re not real. You weren’t real before, neither did JJ or Gideon or Haley or Tobias.” He shook his head and tugged his hair. “Emily can’t be there because she’s dead.” 

JJ and Morgan shared a look, they were going to call Emily and Rossi to try and help because it was clear Reid wasn’t responding well to them. They were all concerned at the implications of Reid having seen Gideon and Haley. 

They got out of the room and they felt as if they had taken a pressure of their chest. Being there for a minute or so was disturbing. Morgan quickly explained what happened and how Reid reacted. Rossi ran inside towards the hunched agent, Emily not far behind. 

Rossi knelt over next to Reid, his arm extended to give him a comforting touch, but he thought otherwise. He knew how much his kid hated touch when he was distressed. 

“Hey, _patatino,_ it's me, Rossi.”

Reid frowned. His mind had been toying with him with hallucinations but not one of them had been of Rossi so far. He lifted his head sceptically. “Rossi?” 

“Hey, kiddo. I’m here, I’m real. Emily is here too, and we are going to get you out of here. Okay?” He said in the most soothing voice possible. 

“But Emily can’t be here?” He frowned and blinked away tears. 

Emily tilted her head. “I’m here. Why can’t I be here?” 

Reid squeezed his eyes and tugged his hair. “Because you died… I buried you... you can’t be here... you died.” he croaked. 

Emily’s heart metaphorically broke in pieces. It shattered. “ _Oh ,Spencer._ I didn’t die. I had to fake my death, remember? But I came back. I _promise_ you I’m here. If I wasn’t here, who else would you take to watch four hour long Russian films?” She tried to smile to reassure him. 

Reid was almost sure the Emily and Rossi that were standing there were real. _Almost_ sure. But at this point he didn’t care if they were real or not. He threw himself to Emily’s arms and hugged her. He was close enough that with the soundproof room, he could hear the mix of his heartbeat, Rossi’s and Emily’s. _They were real_. “You’re really here.” 

Emily hugged him tight and rested her chin on top of his head. “Yes, we are. Always. Now let’s get you out of here.” 

Reid began to try to stand but he was having trouble with it. His senses were messing with him, so his coordination wasn’t the best. Rossi obviously saw his struggle and without missing a beat he grabbed Reid by his legs and back and picked him up bridal style to carry his kid out. 

Reid began to complain. “Rossi, I can walk on my own. It's okay, I can manage.” Rossi didn’t say anything but a hum and ignored him in favour of carrying him out the room. The door was open, so the sound wasn’t totally cut off, but it still _felt_ wrong to be there. “Rossi, _please._ I am a federal agent. I don’t need to be carried around. I can _walk._ ” He ~~whined~~ argued. 

“Hush. You’re going to let me help you because you’re my family. End of story. I’m sure you can walk— with difficulty— but you don’t have to.” Rossi said. He didn’t say anything about Reid thinking he was hallucinating them a moment ago, that would have to be a talk for later. Right now, he needed to get Reid to a hospital and _out_ of there.

**Author's Note:**

> I just really love Rossi as Reid's father figure you know? And i love Emily, she is a badass. 
> 
> Also, for those of you wondering, Spencer is fine and the hallucinations were due to the sound deprivation and a one time thing. :D
> 
> A great big thanks to  
> [AppalachianApologies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppalachianApologies/pseuds/AppalachianApologies) for helping me write this, she gave me all the information and ideas for the anechoic chambers and kept me motivated to write! (Pssh, she is writing whumptober too, y'all should check her criminal minds fics out, they are great) 
> 
> If you want to come and chat find me on Tumblr as: [BrightTerror](https://brightterror.tumblr.com/)  
> Have an amazing day!


End file.
